"Morsi spurned US-brokered deals to remain in office" by David D. Kirkpatrick and Mayy El Sheikh | New York Times, July 07, 2013
CAIRO — The abrupt end of Egypt’s first Islamist government was the culmination of months of escalating tensions and ultimately futile American efforts to broker a solution that would keep President Mohammed Morsi in his elected office, at least in name, if not in power.
In other words, the U.S. was fully informed.
As Morsi huddled in his guard’s quarters during his last hours as the country’s first elected leader, he received a call from an Arab foreign minister with a final offer to end a standoff with the country’s top generals, senior advisers with the president said.
The foreign minister said he was acting as an emissary of Washington, the advisers said, and he asked if Morsi would accept the appointment of a new prime minister and cabinet, one that would take over all legislative powers and replace his chosen provincial governors.
The aides said they already knew what Morsi’s answer would be. He had responded to a similar proposal already by pointing at his neck. “This before that,” he had told his aides, repeating a vow to die before accepting what he considered a de facto coup and thus a crippling blow to Egyptian democracy.
His top foreign policy adviser, Essam el-Haddad, then left the room to call the United States ambassador, Anne W. Patterson, to say that Morsi refused. When he returned, he said he had spoken to Susan E. Rice, the national security adviser, and that the military takeover was about to begin, senior aides said.
“Mother just told us that we will stop playing in one hour,” an aide texted an associate, playing on a sarcastic Egyptian expression for the country’s Western patron, “Mother America.”
The White House had no immediate comment on American involvement in the final hours of the Morsi government.
A new alliance of youthful activists and the Mubarak-era elite drove the street protests. The demonstrations had raised pressure on the Muslim Brotherhood, the once-outlawed Islamist group that had finally come to power with Morsi after the ouster of the former president, Hosni Mubarak. And the alliance between Morsi and the nation’s top generals was gradually unraveling.
In the end, senior Brotherhood officials said, Morsi’s adamant response to that last offer — a combination of idealism and stubbornness — epitomized his rule. It may also have doomed his presidency....
Related: Egyptian Enigma
Either that or the refusal to sign up with the IMF program.
Morsi never believed the generals would turn on him as long as he respected their autonomy and privileges, his advisers said. He had been the Muslim Brotherhood’s designated envoy for talks with the ruling military council after the ouster of Mubarak. And his counterpart on the council was General Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.
Related: Slow Saturday Special: New Egyptian General a-Sissy
Another mistake.
The Brotherhood was naturally suspicious of the military, its historical opponent, but General Sissi cultivated Morsi and other leaders, one of them said, including going out of his way to show that he was a pious Muslim. “That is how the relationship between the two of them started,” said a senior Brotherhood official close to Morsi. “He trusted him.”
As he was talking to Israel.
The two grew so close that Morsi caught his advisers by surprise when he promoted General Sissi to defense minister last summer as part of a deal that persuaded the military for the first time to let the president take full control of his government....
He never had control of anything.
But during the fall protests charging the Brotherhood with monopolizing power, General Sissi first signaled that his departure from politics might not be so permanent.
Without consulting Morsi, General Sissi publicly invited all the country’s political factions — from social democrats to ultraconservative sheiks — to a meeting to try to hammer out a compromise on a more inclusive government. Morsi quashed the idea, advisers said.
And they went ahead anyway.
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Also see: Slow Saturday Special: Egyptian Epilogue
Not over yet:
"Disorder in Egypt generals’ plan; Appointment of ElBaradei as prime minister in dispute" by Ben Hubbard | New York Times, July 07, 2013
CAIRO — Tens of thousands of Mohammed Morsi’s supporters rallied for a third day near a mosque in a Cairo neighborhood that is a stronghold of Islamists, shouting angry slogans against Wednesday’s toppling of Morsi, the country’s first democratically elected president. No major clashes were reported a day after violence killed at least 36 people nationwide and injured about 1,400.
Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel Prize-winning diplomat who does not enjoy wide popularity in the Egyptian streets, said in an interview last week that he had worked hard to convince Western powers of what he called the necessity of ousting Morsi, contending that the president had bungled the country’s transition to an inclusive democracy.
In the interview, ElBaradei also defended the widening arrests of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood allies and the shutdown of Islamist television networks that followed the removal of Morsi.
Translation: he's a western tool!
Since Egypt’s revolution, ElBaradei has remained more of a spokesman for the liberal opposition to Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood than an effective participant in the political process.
His appointment would add to Islamist complaints that the country’s new rulers are swiftly undoing the Islamists’ wins in all postrevolutionary elections by appointing figures whose true popularity among Egyptians has never been put to the test.
The possible nomination of ElBaradei was criticized Saturday at an Islamist sit-in in the Cairo suburb of Nasr City, where supporters of Morsi have vowed to remain until he is reinstated as president.
Ashraf Abu al-Ela, an English teacher, called the nomination “a direct insult to us.” He said ElBaradei had never contributed to Egypt and accused him of being anti-Islam. “He has failed in reading even one verse of the Koran,” he said.
Polls taken before the 2012 presidential election showed that many Egyptians harbored doubts about ElBaradei. The years he spent in Western capitals as an international diplomat raised questions about his authenticity as an Egyptian, and he continued to travel extensively even after his return to Egypt in the early days of the 2011 revolution.
He is what I said he is.
Earlier Saturday, Egyptians buried their dead and treated their wounded while struggling to come to terms with widespread street violence....
Many were shocked by the level of violence and by the abundance of guns in the hands of the combatants, whose stark disagreement over who should be ruling the country followed them into hospital wards. A Coptic priest was shot dead in the northern Sinai Peninsula, and a video circulated showing what appeared to be Islamists pushing two youths from a concrete tower atop a building.
The violence was the most widespread since the revolution that toppled Mubarak, and many feared that it would make it harder for the country’s deeply divided populace to again accept the authority of a single leader....
In the surgery ward, Muhammad Ibrahim, 20, said both he and his brother had voted for Morsi, hoping that he would use Islam to improve life for Egyptians, but they had given up on him when life got worse for the general population. He reserved judgment on General Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, leader of the armed forces, who described the military’s intervention into politics as a step toward healing the country.
“We’ll see if he does anything good or if he’ll say he’s with the people and do nothing, like the others who came before,” Ibrahim said.
Also Saturday, security officials said Khairat el-Shater, the powerful financier and strategist of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement, had been arrested.
About 200 Brotherhood members were put on arrest lists after Morsi’s ouster. Some prominent members have been released, while others remain detained.
Adly Mansour, the interim president appointed by the military, met with Sissi, who is also the defense minister, and with the interior minister, Mohamed Ibrahim, who is in charge of the police, at the presidential palace that had been occupied by Morsi just last week.
Mansour, a former chief justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court, has spoken publicly only once since his swearing-in, and it remains unclear when he will select a Cabinet and how much power it will have.
Islamist supporters who consider Morsi’s removal a military coup continued their sit-in in the Cairo suburb of Nasr City and in front of the officers’ club of the Republican Guard, where some believe Morsi is being held. The authorities have given no information on Morsi’s location since his ouster.
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Also see: Carmen Weinstein, 82, leader of Egypt’s Jew
Rumor is Morsi killed her.
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
"Egypt scrambles to find leaders; protests go on; Islamists asked to accept ouster, officials say" by Kareem Fahim and David D. Kirkpatrick | New York Times, July 08, 2013
CAIRO — As the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies vowed to broaden their protests against the president’s ouster and their opponents held enormous counter-demonstrations, US diplomats sought to persuade the Islamist group to accept his overthrow, Brotherhood officials said.
Then the U.S. did indeed have a role behind the scenes if not outright behind this.
Don't think the hypocritical stench left behind will be lost on other people of the region, either.
Continuing a push for accommodation that began before the removal of President Mohammed Morsi last week, the US diplomats contacted Brotherhood leaders in an effort to persuade them to reenter the political process, an Islamist briefed on one of the conversations said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
You are kidding, right?
“They are asking us to legitimize the coup,” the Islamist said, arguing that accepting the removal of an elected president would be the death of Egyptian democracy. The US Embassy in Cairo declined to comment.
Even as both sides continued street demonstrations Sunday, Egypt’s new leaders continued their effort to form an interim government. Squabbles about a choice for prime minister spilled into the open Saturday, exposing splits among the country’s newly ascendant political forces....
The power vacuum has left confusion about who is responsible for making decisions in the interim, and in particular for law enforcement. During the past few days, the authorities have arrested Muslim Brotherhood officials and closed television stations, including Islamist channels, though it is not clear on whose orders the security services were acting....
Leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, the long-outlawed Islamist group that nominated Morsi for president, have sought to convince the world that his removal was illegal and untenable. They now say they intend to escalate their demonstrations across Egypt.
Brotherhood officials pledged that their growing protests would force the military to release Morsi, insisting no one else would negotiate on their behalf. “I think the military has to yield; they won’t have any choice,” said Gehad el-Haddad, a Brotherhood spokesman.
“We are stepping it up every few days, with protests around the country,” Haddad said. “We are logistically capable of carrying this on for months.”
He said the protests themselves would turn into gathering places for the observation of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan as it begins this week.
In Cairo, hundreds of thousands of Morsi’s opponents gathered in Tahrir Square and outside the presidential palace, in what protesters said was an effort to counter claims to legitimacy made by the deposed president’s supporters.
In a mirror image of the pro-Morsi protests, many at the gathering seemed far less interested in swaying the Islamists than proving that their numbers were greater.
The gathering was also held “in appreciation” of the army’s role, and many people held portraits of Sissi or banners praising the military. Jets and helicopters that flew overhead gave the demonstration the feel of a ticker-tape, postwar rally.
(Blog editor is stunned at the level of propaganda disguised as journalistic style)
But in an alleyway near the square, a group of young protesters talked about the toll of Egypt’s conflict, still far from over. They were longtime activists, and all had friends who had died in protests during Egypt’s transition. Now, their conversations with friends in the Muslim Brotherhood had become arguments.
Mai Mandour, a 23-year old law student, said her brother told her that Islamist neighbors had started shaving beards.
Wouldn't they want you to grow one?
“Everyone’s worried about a civil war,” she said.
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They should be:
"Gunfire at Egyptian military building leaves 40 dead" by Sarah El Deeb | Associated Press, July 08, 2013
CAIRO — Egyptian soldiers and police opened fire on supporters of the ousted president early Monday in violence that left at least 40 people killed, including one officer, outside a military building in Cairo where demonstrators had been holding a sit-in, government officials and witnesses said.
There were conflicting accounts of how the violence began. A military spokesman said gunmen attempted to storm the building at dawn, prompting the clashes. Supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi, meanwhile, said the security forces fired on hundreds of protesters as they performed early morning prayers. It was not immediately possible to reconcile the two accounts.
I know who I believe.
In chaotic scenes from field hospitals treating the wounded, at least six dead bodies had been laid out on the ground, some with severe wounds, according to footage aired by pan-Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera. The bodies had been draped with an Egyptian flag and pictures of Morsi. Pools of blood covered the floor and doctors struggled to deal with gaping wounds.
A medic from the area, Hesham Agami, said ambulances were unable to transport more than 200 wounded to hospitals because the military had blocked off the roads.
Health Ministry spokesman Khaled el-Khatib said initial reports also indicated at least 322 were wounded, although he gave no details on the circumstances of the bloodshed.
Military spokesmen said gunmen opened fire on troops at the building, killing at least five Morsi supporters and one officer.
A spokesman for Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, Mourad Ali, and a witness at the scene said army troops opened fire at dawn on the protesters outside the Republican Guard building, where the protesters believe Morsi has been held by the army since the military pushed him from power on Wednesday. Morsi was initially held there but was later moved to an undisclosed Defense Ministry facility.
Al-Shaimaa Younes, who was at the sit-in, said military troops and police forces opened fire on the protesters during early morning prayers, and that women and children had been among the demonstrators.
‘‘They opened fire with live ammunition and lobbed tear gas,’’ she said by telephone. ‘‘There was panic and people started running. I saw people fall.’’
Egyptian state TV showed images provided by the military of the scene of the sit-in, where scores of protesters were pelting troops with rocks, and setting tires on fire, as troops dressed in riot gear and carrying shields formed lines a few meters (yards) away.
A fire was raging from an apartment in a building overlooking the scene of the clashes. Images showed men throwing spears at the area of the clashes from atop nearby building rooftops. Other protesters were lobbing fire bombs at the troops. It was not clear when the footage was filmed. Security officers were showing cameras bullet casings, and troops were carrying injured colleagues.
Please, no more staged and scripted shit, old videos passed off as current, and on and on. See why I didn't buy a paper today?
Military spokesman Col. Ahmed Mohammed Ali said initial information indicates that gunmen affiliated with the Brotherhood tried to storm the Republican Guard building shortly after dawn, firing live ammunition and throwing firebombs from a nearby mosque and rooftops. One police officer on the scene was killed, he said.
I guess it doesn't matter what nation you live in. Militaries lie! Either that or this was a staged provocation by the authorities and their allies to justify this slaughter.
A statement by the armed forces published on the state news agency said ‘‘an armed terrorist group’’ tried to storm the Republican Guard building, killing one officer and seriously wounding six. The statement said the forces arrested 200 attackers, armed with guns and ammunition.
Ali, the Brotherhood spokesman, dismissed the military’s version, saying the protesters — including women and children — didn’t attack the troops. He said the military had warned protesters it will break up the sit-in.
Morsi supporters have been holding rallies and a sit-in outside the Republican Guard building since the military deposed Morsi last week during massive protests against him. The military chief replaced Morsi with an interim president until presidential elections are held. The transition plan is backed by liberal and secular opponents of Morsi, and had been also supported by the ultraconservative Islamist Al-Nour party and both Muslim and Christian religious leaders.
Soon after the attack report, however, Al-Nour party spokesman Nader Bakkar said on his Twitter account his party is withdrawing its support for the transition plan in response to the ‘‘massacre.’’
Morsi’s supporters refuse to recognize the change in leadership and insist Morsi be reinstated, and have vowed to continue their sit-ins outside the Republican Guard building as well as at a nearby mosque.
Morsi’s opponents are also holding rival rallies. They say the former president lost his legitimacy by mismanaging the country and not ruling democratically, leading to a mass revolt that began June 30, the first anniversary of Morsi’s assumption of power.
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